The present invention relates to an abrading device and method of making the same. Specifically, the invention relates to an abrading device for grinding a herb or similar plant or food related substance to a fine mulch or small particulate form suitable for ingestion and other uses.
Grinders for rendering foods and spices to mulch or particulate form are known in the art. However, a problem found in the art is that a food grinder is typically a large home or industrial scale device suitable for grinding large volumes of food or herbs. Such food grinders may typically be driven by a motor that may cause an excessive amount of heat energy to be transferred to the herb, and has the risk of heating and spoiling the herb. Yet, certain herbs are required in only small quantities at a time for specific consumption. In these cases, in order to preserve the herb's freshness, it is preferable to keep the herb stock hermetically sealed in its natural form for as long as possible before grinding only a very small portion of the herb stock to a fine mulch or particulate form suitable for use. Moreover, some herbs require very delicate handling when being ground to mulch or particulate form because they may be damaged if overheated or may suffer destruction of natural oil structures if ground too aggressively or energetically. Where manual grinders are used in the prior art, a problem encountered in this field is that the surface of the grinder that is exposed for use is typically rough or sharp. Thus, a user who manually grinds a product on such a surface tends to find that toward the end of a grinding operation, when much of the product has been ground away, his fingers are exposed to the surface of the grinder and as a result he may injure or scrape the tips of his fingers.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a herb grinder that allows a user to reduce a delicate natural herb to a small quantity of ground mulch or particulates by applying a minimal amount of energy to the herb during grinding, so that overheating and destruction of oils do not result. There is a further need for a portable manual herb grinder that is easy to carry and that reduces the tendency of the grinder to injure a user in the final stages of a grinding operation. The present invention addresses these and other needs.